A Houston Texan tailgates with the Aggies

COLLEGE STATION — Fred Weary is a big barbecue guy, and he’s taking in his first Texas A&M tailgating today.

Weary, one of the original Houston Texans, oddly enough slept on our guest bed last night (probably weren’t expecting that one, were you?).

My late father-in-law’s best friend, Dee Cunningham, is a Texans barbecuing tailgating legend, and Weary, a longtime starting offensive lineman recently released by the squad, has partnered up with Cunningham on the BBQ front.

So with the Texans out of town this weekend, the duo rolled in to Bryan-College Station last night, and set up over on campus early this morning.

Weary, a Tennessee Volunteer who celebrated the program’s 10th anniversary of its national championship last weekend in Knoxville, knows tailgating. He’s a product of the Southeastern Conference, for goodness sakes.

He gives A&M, which is still in the budding stages of true tailgating, a thumbs up. For its organization. The rowdiness, he said, stilll has a ways to go to get in the SEC’s ballpark. A&M officials will happily take that.

Time for kickoff — and it’s far from a capacity crowd to this point. I’m surprised, because it’s a great day for football. And tailgating.